Germany is set to rearm in a way not seen since World War II after the likely next chancellor, Friedrich Merz, said his government would vastly increase defence spending.
The announcement means Germany will effectively have to override its constitutionally enshrined “debt brake” so it can up its defence budget by $107 billion a year as Europe braces for a weakening of the US defence umbrella.
“There are moments in which the history of a country takes an unexpected turn,” the Zeit newspaper said today, adding that Merz’s plans “may turn out to be one such moment”.
The plans were unveiled on Tuesday as part of expedited talks between Merz’s centre-right CDU/CSU alliance and the centre-left Social Democrats (SPD) on a possible coalition after last month’s general election.
Their tempo was stepped up further after Friday’s televised row between US President Donald Trump and his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky, with the White House then freezing aid to Kyiv.
Merz, a longtime Atlanticist who had previously baulked at financing public spending through large-scale debt, has quickly changed his tune given the head-spinning pace of events.
Germany’s EU partners, who are gathering for a key summit on Thursday to discuss Ukraine and defence, had been waiting for action from Berlin after months of political paralysis since the collapse of Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s government in November.
Alongside the huge boost in defence spending, Merz wants to set up a 500bn euro fund to upgrade Germany’s creaking infrastructure and help drag it out of two straight years of recession.
If the plans succeed, they could be a “real game changer” and also “quickly overcome Germany’s economic stagnation”, said Sebastian Dullien, director of the IMK economic research institute.
